Movie Review — The Shipping News

The latest on The Shipping News was that it received some last-minute changes prior to its limited Christmas release and a wider release in January. That may be damaging for the Oscar potential for Lasse Hallstrom's new film, mostly set in Newfoundland, but there's more to like than dislike as the director imparts a formidable visual sensibility in adapting E. Annie Proulx's acclaimed novel.

With its "R" rating and darker underbelly of a man's efforts to confront his past, The Shipping News probably won't succeed like Hallstrom's last two features, Chocolat and The Cider House Rules, which resulted in Best Picture Oscar nominations. Still, there's a formidable cast on hand, including Kevin Spacey, Julianne Moore and Judi Dench, with Cate Blanchett, Pete Postelthewaite and Scott Glenn in smaller parts.

Hallstrom is rejoined by scenarist Robert Nelson Jacobs from Chocolat, and the story makes fine use of the windy, rocky coastal fishing village in eastern Canada. Here, the characterizations go deeper than in Chocalat, but there's an emotional undertow that becomes more apparent than the influence of a mother and daughter in a quiet, late ‘50s French hamlet.

Spacey, who walked a fine line between a patient in a Manhattan psychiatric ward and an alien in K-Pax, is the meek Quoyle (pronounced as "coil"), who drifts along as an inksetter for a newspaper in Poughkeepsie. The parental abuse and spousal abuse from the lively Petal, played flamboyantly by Blanchett, lead to a possible chance at redemption through a move from a decent, upstate abode. The Shipping News changes abruptly in tone from personal tragedy with the appearance of Dench's Aunt Agnes Hamm, as her feisty presence lures him to a dilapidated old family home on the outskirts of a Newfoundland shipping community.

Quoyle has a precocious daughter in Bunny, acted with little distinction and sharpness by triplets Lauren, Kaitlyn and Alyssa Gainer, and they reach a small fishing port named Killick-Claw. He eventually gains employment because of who he came from, not from his skills as a reporter for the local newspaper, called The Gammy Bird, with Glenn's Jack Buggit in charge.

Hallstrom lets the pace take hold as Quoyle reports on the shipping news and nearby car accidents, not really what the man looking for a fresh start had in mind. And water is key in how his lineage sparks disturbing memories. A lady named Wavey Prowse, played with subtlety regarding her character's emotional past by Moore, is the single mother whom he becomes attracted to, as Bunny has become a friend of her mentally-challenged son.

The plot gains more interest from Quoyle's findings about a couple he met during his reporting, and the filmmakers get a hold on what is mired in the choppy seas. It may not resonate with the same emotional, poetic force felt in the novel, but there is some feeling, though not as fulfilling in the camaraderie and relationships around the quaint but scenic maritime area.

The Shipping News isn't enervated by the interactions of Spacey and Moore, who share similar troubles and are uncertain at first in reaching out because of how they have been loved up to this point in their lives.

Dench, also in the concurrent Iris, provides her typical solid support, and Blanchett's slutty Petal is felt throughout, even if her wild life style placed an albatross on Quoyle. At The Gammy Bird, there's some levity offered from Postlethwaite's Tert Card as well as colleague Nutbeem, played by Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill). Glenn puts more into Buggit than one anticipates, and tension over a fishing license with his son, Dennis, gives some truthful moments to Gordon Pinsent, who grew up in Newfoundland.

It's hard not to admire how Hallstrom works with cinematographer Oliver Stapleton and composer Christopher Young to let the viewer into the vividly rough existence felt by Quoyle. An ominous percussion alternates with flavorful compositions as The Shipping News resolves measuredly to take an evocative plunge. Yet, the emotions appear to be lost on the harsh seas as Hallstrom can't find the means to anchor an effective conclusion from a stark, isolated psychological condition.